Ohio power plants shut down

Citing regulations FirstEnergy to close four coal fired plants in Ohio.

This is FirstEnergy's Bay Shore station, one of four coal fired power plants in Ohio that the electric company announced it will close in the face of tougher federal clean air standards.

The Akron based company will close a total six plants, including one in Pennsylvania and another in Maryland. Besides Bay Shore, located east of Toledo, First Energy will close its Ashtabula, Lake Shore and Eastlake plants.

The closings will affect as many as 529 jobs, though how many workers will actually lose their jobs isn't known. The company wrote in a press release that some could transfer to openings at other plants.

Environmental groups cheered the decision to retire the old plants as a victory for clean air and people's health. In addition to cuts in mercury and other pollutants, enviromental groups also singled out Bay Shore for killing millions of Lake Erie fish that were sucked into its water cooling system.